An alert guide dog saved a California man and woman on Monday from an out-of-control vehicle swerving backward down a public sidewalk at high speed.

Todd Jurek and Danielle Alvarado are both employees of Guide Dogs for the Blind, a company that trains service dogs to assist visually impaired individuals. They were taking a ONeil, an 18-month-old Labrador retriever, out for a training walk in San Rafael, Calif., on Monday morning when the near-death experience occurred.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that a 93-year-old woman was reportedly trying to parallel park her vehicle when she lost control and began driving the car in reverse, smashing a store window.

"It was just an unbelievable sight to see something going backwards, barreling down the sidewalk," Jurek told the paper.

Jurek and Alvarado, who was blindfolded as part of the exercise, did not see the car barreling down the sidewalk behind them. But ONeil sensed something was going on and jerked his head backward. The motion caught Jureks attention who then also looked backward just in time to see the car.

The entire incident was captured on a security camera from a local business.

"He probably heard the commotion before the window popped," Jurek said of ONeils timely response.

Amazingly, no one was hurt in the incident, including the driver, who reportedly hit a street bench and stop light before coming to a stop.

“The San Jose Mercury News reports that a 93-year-old woman was reportedly trying to parallel park her vehicle when she lost control and began driving the car in reverse...”

Hmmm...

“The San Jose Mercury News reports that a 93-year-old woman was reportedly trying to parallel park her vehicle when she lost control of her mind and slammed on the gas when she thought she was slamming the brake...”

Access to a car is everything in the U.S. My father began (illegally) driving at the age of thirteen. He helped to feed his family during the Great Depression by working for a local grocer delivering groceries in a pickup truck specially rigged for him. The day he became incapacitated by a stroke and too old to drive anymore, he handed me his car keys, and never sat behind the wheel of a car again. He was devastated by it, but knew the potential consequences of continuing to drive.

3
posted on 06/13/2013 6:16:23 AM PDT
by PowderMonkey
(WILL WORK FOR AMMO)

My 94 year old Mom no longer drives. She was out on the roads at 93 and stopped by my house during a rain/snow event during the Winter of 2012. She walked in the kitchen door unannounced before I had put down the floor mats and slipped and broke her hip. The doctor told her after hip surgery she shouldn’t drive any more.

Before that her car used to get those mystery dents which she would have no idea how they occurred. One time a Police Officer followed her home and told her she had hit a mailbox. She still claims the copy was wrong.

To this day she hasn’t forgiven her sons for taking away her car. Our consolation is knowing that other people on the roads are a little safer now.

My 89 year-old MIL drove into a parked 18- wheeler in a parking lot she didn’t see. Although it was driveable, her car was totaled by the insurance company. She wanted to keep driving it until I asked her if she could see a trailer truck how likely is it that she wouldn’t see a 10 year-old? She never drove again.

10
posted on 06/13/2013 8:52:16 AM PDT
by muir_redwoods
(Don't fire until you see the blue of their helmets)

Not just California....my mother, when taking her first drivers test in Wisconsin...backed into a pole in the parking lot. The idiot gave her her license. As the poster above said, she too had mystery dents in her car.

No, she’s not driving now. No more car. And she is very mad at my brother for “stealing” her car. (no, he didn’t steal it!)

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